Around the world

Posted: February 14, 2013 - 1:13am

KABUL, Afghanistan

President Barack Obama’s decision to bring half of America’s 66,000 troops home within a year was welcomed Wednesday by Afghan officials who have long agitated to control their country, but was greeted with dismay by Afghans who think America failed to keep its promise of a better and safer life.

A troop drawdown was widely expected, but for the first time, Obama said how many. For some Afghans, Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday underscored the reality that foreign troops were indeed leaving.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai viewed the announcement as good news. He has pushed for a faster withdrawal of international troops, arguing that his country is sovereign and should control its own fate.

TEHRAN, Iran

Iran said Wednesday that it has begun installing a new generation of centrifuges at its main uranium enrichment facility, a move that will allow it to vastly increase its pace of uranium enrichment in defiance of U.N. calls to halt such activities.

Vice President Fereidoun Abbasi told the official IRNA news agency that the machines will only produce low-level enriched uranium, which is used to make nuclear fuel, but high-level enrichment makes it suitable for use in the core of a nuclear weapon.

Abbasi said Iranian nuclear scientists began installing the advanced centrifuges at Natanz about a month ago.

BEIRUT

Syrian rebels knocked down army defenses and moved in on the country’s second largest airport Wednesday, reportedly killing more than 40 soldiers and bringing them closer to what could be their biggest conquest since the beginning of the civil war.

Control of Aleppo international airport and a military air base next to it would be a huge strategic shift for Syria’s northeastern region, giving the opposition a potential air hub enabling aid and other flights.

Still, activists said it could be days before the rebels would be able to push their way into the airport, 4 miles from the contested city center, and even then, it was unclear whether they would be able to retain control of the sprawling facility.

CAIRO

An Egyptian opposition group accused the government on Wednesday of covering up torture at the hands of security forces.

The charge came after a government forensic report claimed 28-year-old activist Mohammed el-Gindy was killed in a car accident. It contradicted family and friends, who said he died after he was electrocuted and beaten on his head repeatedly in detention earlier this month.

In a separate case, activists also accused authorities of trying to conceal the identity and age of 12-year-old Omar Salah, killed by security forces’ gunfire during clashes around Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Feb. 3.

GAO, Mali

French soldiers on Wednesday recovered an enormous stash of explosives that authorities believe radical Islamic fighters were using to make bombs for attacks on northern Mali’s largest city, a Malian military spokesman said.

Meanwhile, officials in the capital said the army captain behind a coup last year that paved the way for radical Islamic militants to take over the north will be tasked with reforming the military.